I wonder. Because when it comes to conversations like these, I try to imagine what the opposing voice would say. So then I ask, which is worse? Physical or emotional abuse? Because you know how victims like to make a competition out of who has it worse. While it’s true that physical abuse can lead to emotional abuse, for it to get to that point, in my opinion, it’s relatively rare these days without the police getting involved to arrest the physical abuser.

And the thing is, when I talk about this with women to get their perspective, I’m not sure most women know what’s going on beneath the surface. It’s either that, or straight up difficult for them to believe it. How the emotional abuse, especially the denial of emotional abuse, really have made men more reluctant to get involved in relationships. Think about it. It’s the same for those who have been in physically abused relationships. When the right person comes along, the abused will still have doubts and fear.

And if women aren’t aware of those doubts and fear, I truly believe it will lead to their own decline of self-esteem, thinking men aren’t interested in them because they aren’t beautiful or interesting, which is far from the case. And then you hear crap like “man up” from those who were fortunate enough not to experience said abuse. These are strange times indeed.